The OT Eurovision gala is right around the corner and on Monday we learned the four first hopefuls to make the selection show.

And now producers at both TVE and Gestmusic are combing through more than 200 song submissions, which they will pair with the remaining artists. It’s game on and vamos!

Formula TV— Spain’s leading site devoted to television — reports that it isn’t solely a matter of pairing five songs with five singers. They’re considering pairing songs with soloists, duos and even groups.

OT: Solos, duos or groups

Yes, you’re reading that right. While earlier news bulletins suggested that five finalists would be paired with five songs, there seems to have been a change of heart in HQ.

During Spain’s submission process, authors were asked to specify which candidate they wanted to sing their songs. And if they couldn’t decide, they were allowed to indicate other preferences…such as whether they wanted the song to go to a duo or group instead of an individual.

At the time of writing or submitting their songs, they would not have known which candidates had made the final.

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As Formula TV also reports, producers intend to give every single finalist more than one song. This means the Spanish audience will get to choose from a varied selection of acts. Let’s just pray quantity also means quality….and that each artist can master multiple new songs in the short time they have.

The chosen songs will be revealed on January 23 in the oh-so-famous “reparto de temas” (song assignment). That happens every Tuesday when the Academy teachers assign each candidate a track to tackle. For the Eurovision Gala, the composers of the songs will also be there. That will add pressure, but also the opportunity to learn from the man or woman who created the melody.

The composers will be crucial in empowering each finalist with the meaning of the song and its values.

100 % Spanish-language songs

Tinet Rubira spoiled it on Twitter in late December. And Formula TV confirms it now. The songs are going to be fully in Spanish.

The song submission process had two key rules.

All songs must follow the Eurovision Song Contest established rules. They have to be original and unpublished before September 1. But also avoiding controversial topics and should follow the three-minute rule. For this last one though, it can be shortened afterwards.

All songs lyrics have to be in Spanish.

It is nice to see Spain going back to their roots. Barei brought the change in 2016 and Manel Navarro continued the trend. Unfortunately, neither of them managed to escape the bottom of the scoreboard.

While some countries do fairly well singing in English, Spain could be the exception. And needless to say, it is nice to bring something authentic. Plus, it is a fact that some Spanish-Latin songs are dominating the charts lately. Ride the wave!

The song selection involved songwriters from countless backgrounds. Some came unsolicited from professional publishing houses, while others were received following a direct request from the broadcaster. Independent artists could also send their contributions in. And it seems like some of the songs actually come from composers who previously visited the academy.

And now for some fan theories. Rumour had it last week that the deadline was set for the first 15 days of January. But it has allegedly been lengthened to make way for a few last-minute compositions. Rumours suggest that the well-known artist Pablo Alborán has used the extra time to whip out a song.

Gala 12

The contestants are now facing the last of the traditional Galas. After this one, the Eurovision Gala will take place followed by the big OT final.

Gala 12 will determine the last finalist to join Amaia, Alfred, Miriam and Aitana in the race toward Eurovision and the OT final. This last finalist will either be Ana Guerra or Agoney — both nominated to leave the competition this week.

Whoever is leaving – as the jury stated on last show – must feel proud. This edition of Operación Triunfo is one of the strongest – if not the strongest – ever seen.

But what do you think? Are you happy with the song selection process? And would you like to see any duo or groups in this? If so, who would you pair with who? Tell us in the comment section below!

Jordi Pedra

Jordi Pedra contributed this report from Barcelona and has been a fan of Eurovision since Rosa’s early 00’s disco craze “Europe’s living a celebration”. Listening to music, smiling and traveling are some of the things that he really enjoys to do… and watching Eurovision, without a doubt! You can follow him on Twitter @Jordi_44. Keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by liking our Facebook page and by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs.

13 Comments

HéctorJanuary 18, 2018 @ 10:00 pm

I like what I’m reading. I have high hopes this year, even if it seems a lot of work to learn and interiorised more than one song in a week. I think we are going to have some quality songs, because there are great Spanish artists and composers involved, some of them have visited La Academia. I hope these artists have not submitted some of their rejects though.

I really hope I don’t get dissapointed again when the songs are revealed. All of them could do a great job in Lisbon.

I think it’s very unfair for songs to go to duos or groups. Let’s not forget Lithuania’s national selection in 2015 — if there’s one duo versus a bunch of solo acts, the duo will receive support from fans of both artists and obviously do better. Every act should receive a song as a solo singer.

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